WorkCare provides
Incident Intervention™ services, a resource
for managers designed to support company safety
goals/targets, while reducing runaway costs
associated with workplace injuries/illnesses.
Incident Intervention is the practice of using
WorkCare physicians to "intervene" at
the time a workplace injury or accident occurs.
These services provide health and safety
managers with an effective tool to cut lost-time
accidents, reduce the number of OSHA recordables,
lower workers' compensation costs and return
recovered employees back to work in an expedient
manner. It's a practice that generates
measurable results.
Incident Intervention is a two-phase process
involving pre-loss and post-loss services.
Pre-loss Incident Intervention focuses on using
protocols to minimize the escalation of the
incident, reducing the risk that it becomes a
workers' compensation claim, lost work day(s) or
OSHA recordable. In this phase, a WorkCare
physician or nurse is notified by a supervisor
upon the occurrence of an accident. The
supervisor provides information on the type,
possible cause and scope of the incident.
The WorkCare physician provides responsive
evaluation of the incident, determines the most
appropriate course of action and consults with
the treating physician to design a quality care
treatment plan that meets the needs of the
employee and employer in cases where the
incident is work related. The goal of Incident
Intervention is to provide the right care--not
less care. As board-certified physicians in
occupational health, WorkCare doctors have the
expertise and training to serve as "medical
advocates" for employees. They are able to
recommend the "right" plan that
ensures appropriate patient care and returns
employees to work as early as possible.
How Incident Intervention Works
This common back injury case illustrates how
Incident Intervention works. A worker injured
his back while lifting an object at a job site.
The supervisor responded by sending the employee
to a clinic. The clinic's doctor determined that
the worker suffered a mild back strain and
prescribed prescription-strength Motrin for one
week. The doctor sent the employee back to work,
but the treatment he prescribed caused the
incident to be an OSHA recordable injury, as
defined in OSHA's revised recordkeeping rule (29
CFR 1904), which went into effect on January 1,
2002.
One of the key provisions of OSHA's
recordkeeping rule is the revised definition of
first aid. Understanding what constitutes first
aid is critical because "any medical
treatment that goes beyond first aid meets the
general recording criteria and is thus
recordable."
The rule states: "For medications available
in both prescription and non-prescription form,
a recommendation by a physician or other
licensed healthcare professional to use a
non-prescription medication at prescription
strength is considered medical treatment for
recordkeeping purposes."
A doctor with expertise in incident management
could have "intervened" to use their
medical expertise to look at the full range of
treatment options, some which may not be OSHA
recordable. The doctor's goal is to provide
workers with appropriate, effective care, while
never losing sight of how their medical
decisions affect employers.
And the key to successful Incident Intervention
is to establish contact with an occupational
physician as close to the time of injury as
possible. There is a real window of opportunity
to affect the outcome of a case. The sooner an
occupational physician gets involved, the
greater the impact that doctor can have on the
case.
Post-Loss Phase
The post-loss phase (after incident) is
aimed at returning a recovered employee back to
work as quickly as possible. Employers should
consider adopting disability-management systems
that use a proactive approach to return
employees back to work. These systems are
critical in reducing workers' compensation and
other disability costs. Research indicates that
most companies experience a 25-30 percent
reduction in disability costs in the first year
after implementing a disability-management
system that includes return-to-work programs.
Such programs include "transitional
employment," a process in which the
employer and employee agree on a scheduled plan
with incremental steps (duration, production
speed, lift capacities and other job functions)
that enable an employee to phase into work.
Transitional employment is not light duty. It is
a process in which the employee has expressed
the desire to return to full capacity work or
the treating physician recommends a return to
work. In transitional employment, the employer
and employee agree to a working plan that allows
the employee to work at a level that is safe and
tolerable. WorkCare can assist in setting up
such a program.
Avoiding the Disability Mindset
Occupational medicine doctors have reported
that it takes less than a few days for a person
to buy into the "I-can't-work syndrome.
US Filter Industrial Hygiene Manager Mike Luker
discussed the benefits of Incident Intervention
he has experienced as a client of WorkCare.
"WorkCare has assisted us in avoiding 8-10
lost-time accidents a year. In most cases,
employees are back to work on restricted or full
duty. This is a service our worker compensation
carrier can not perform," he said.
Insurance companies only provide case management
services after an incident becomes a claim,
which is typically 6-10 days after the incident.
Incident Intervention provides employers with
immediate access to physicians on a 24/7 basis,
and can be arranged on a case-by-case need or
through consulting service agreements.
Click
here if you want additional information
on this service.
Depending on your company's specific
requirements, we may recommend placing an
Occupational Health nurse or physician onsite
for a certain number of hours each week or
establishing a full-service onsite facility to
serve your employees. Our goal is to reduce
overall costs related to health benefits and
regulatory compliance and increase the
effectiveness of your preventive strategies.
Each program uses state-of-the-art criteria for
regulatory compliance and worker protection.
Regardless of the specifics, every WorkCare
program has several common features:
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Customized –
to your company's specific needs
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Unbiased –
employees are more comfortable
disclosing important information to
medical professionals who are not part
of the "company" or
"management".
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Experienced –
the onsite program is directed by
board-certified occupational health
physicians.
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Results-Oriented
– we provide periodic documented
reports stating ongoing goals and
accomplishments.
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Benefits From An
On-Site Program:
- Decreased absenteeism
- Improved employee morale
- Increased productivity
- Greater employee health awareness
- Better accountability
- Decreased medical costs
- Decreased workers' compensation costs
- Regulatory compliance
Click
here if you want additional information
on this service.
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